Suburbia: Your Thoughts and Ideas

[Suburbanist]

It's neither. Just to increase both speed and safety (at maximum speed) of all forms of traffic.

[fieldsofdreams]

Originally Posted by Suburbanist

you could have some receded space, priced accordingly, for those activities every hundred meters/block/building or so.

What do you mean by receded space? Like parking bulbs?

[poshbakerloo]

Out of interest, how many people live or have lived for a long time in the suburbs? Suburbs being a semi detached or detached house with front and back gardens on a quiet residential road, a few miles away from the city centre.

[Chrissib]

Originally Posted by poshbakerloo

Out of interest, how many people live or have lived for a long time in the suburbs? Suburbs being a semi detached or detached house with front and back gardens on a quiet residential road, a few miles away from the city centre.

I did from the age of 6 until I was 20. The house of my parents doesn't have a frontyard as the space in front of the house is dedicated to the entrance way and the garage. Between our house and the street are two other houses so it was very quiet. The entrance way passes these two houses and ends at the house of my parents.

[Kretjong]

nevermind

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by poshbakerloo

Out of interest, how many people live or have lived for a long time in the suburbs? Suburbs being a semi detached or detached house with front and back gardens on a quiet residential road, a few miles away from the city centre.

I grew up in semi-detached suburbia in the UK, lived in detached suburbia for my teenage years in the UK and lived in detached suburbia in Auckland, New Zealand. Now I live in high rise apartments in Sweden (soon to be a mid-rise apartment). I know for a fact which one I prefer for children and which one I prefer to live in. Definitely the apartments given the amenities close by to them and the wonderful ease of transport and the sociability afforded to children by having a park literally outside the front of your apartment.

[weava]

Originally Posted by poshbakerloo

Out of interest, how many people live or have lived for a long time in the suburbs? Suburbs being a semi detached or detached house with front and back gardens on a quiet residential road, a few miles away from the city centre.

I live in a suburban apartment complex. Suburbs are more than just detached hosues.

[zaphod]

I've lived in a suburban apartment complex and I think they are the worst of both worlds. Even though there were outdoor amenities it wasn't stuff the kind of people who lived there would actually use. It wasn't a kid friendly place so if you had kids they would not be allowed to play outside. Of course you paid for all the maintenance of that stuff in your rent whether you used it or not. I never really felt comfortable there. You couldn't walk anywhere and there was only one way in and out. Unlike a "building" where there is a lobby and there might be a trash chute on each floor I did not like walking all the way to the dumpster or the mailbox shack(you can't ignore your mail too long, might get jury duty, but ultimately I wished the giant compressed brick of coupon mailers and ad fliers would go away).

Of course I'm sure "buildings" have their problems too. Like structural maintenance issues effecting everyone's rent (god forbid if its a condo), or waiting for elevators. And they cost more overall to build.

I'd rather live in a more european style walk up or flat type apartment, just a couple floors on a city street with maybe a public park in close proximity.

[FM 2258]

Originally Posted by zaphod

I've lived in a suburban apartment complex and I think they are the worst of both worlds. Even though there were outdoor amenities it wasn't stuff the kind of people who lived there would actually use. It wasn't a kid friendly place so if you had kids they would not be allowed to play outside. Of course you paid for all the maintenance of that stuff in your rent whether you used it or not. I never really felt comfortable there. You couldn't walk anywhere and there was only one way in and out. Unlike a "building" where there is a lobby and there might be a trash chute on each floor I did not like walking all the way to the dumpster or the mailbox shack(you can't ignore your mail too long, might get jury duty, but ultimately I wished the giant compressed brick of coupon mailers and ad fliers would go away).

Of course I'm sure "buildings" have their problems too. Like structural maintenance issues effecting everyone's rent (god forbid if its a condo), or waiting for elevators. And they cost more overall to build.

I'd rather live in a more european style walk up or flat type apartment, just a couple floors on a city street with maybe a public park in close proximity.

I used to live in an apartment complex in the suburbs. It looked nice, had amenities even a bus stop on the street but things were still far and without a car it just seems like time is wasted waiting for the bus or walking across massive parking lots once you get to your destination.

After visiting countries in Europe and Asia recently the more I'm disgusted with the U.S. style suburb and the lack of efficient public transportation options. It's funny because maybe 6 years ago I was very pro-freeway/urban sprawl. Not having a car for a while, seeing walkable cities in other countries and higher gas prices has really changed my opinion.

[fieldsofdreams]

Originally Posted by poshbakerloo

Out of interest, how many people live or have lived for a long time in the suburbs? Suburbs being a semi detached or detached house with front and back gardens on a quiet residential road, a few miles away from the city centre.

I'm currently living in the northern suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area, in a city called Novato. Currently the second largest city in Marin County, it is home to over 52,000 inhabitants, with only San Rafael being larger (at 57,000), and it is a fast-growing community where affordable housing exists just within my doorstep (like a 10-minute walk), and it is home to Marin County's only locations of Costco, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, Macy's Furniture, Marshalls, Old Navy, Sephora, Sports Authority, and Target (for now). The fun thing is, I have been living in the suburbs for 6.5 years, compared to over 15 years living in the core of Metro Manila, a metropolis of over 11 million people -- with my city at over 300,000 -- and I really love Metro Manila more than Novato for obvious reasons.

[poshbakerloo]

When people say that they would rather live in an apartment as its close to all the 'local amenities' and the park etc...

Does that mean you would live a large suburban style home if it was in the middle of a city, or would you still want to live in a compact apartment several floors up?

[Erthel]

Definitely, a detached house in the middle of the urb would be awesome, and they exist, but usually are a very expensive luxury that few people can afford .

[Piltup Man]

I like living high up. I live on the fourth floor and this is my view:

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by poshbakerloo

When people say that they would rather live in an apartment as its close to all the 'local amenities' and the park etc...

Does that mean you would live a large suburban style home if it was in the middle of a city, or would you still want to live in a compact apartment several floors up?

Detached houses in the city are impossible as then it no longer the city. The very nature of such housing is the antithesis of urban and one cannot have amenities to serve the population as efficiently due to the greater space requirements of such housing.

PS: I DID swap detach house living for apartment living and I won't go back to houses. Ever.

[chornedsnorkack]

Originally Posted by Svartmetall

Detached houses in the city are impossible as then it no longer the city. The very nature of such housing is the antithesis of urban and one cannot have amenities to serve the population as efficiently due to the greater space requirements of such housing.

Say that the population of the city cannot be dominated by the principal residents of detached houses.

Note both qualifications introduced.

If an area has a mixture of apartment houses and detached houses in close vicinity, does this drive up the values of the detached houses?

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by chornedsnorkack

Say that the population of the city cannot be dominated by the principal residents of detached houses.

Note both qualifications introduced.

If an area has a mixture of apartment houses and detached houses in close vicinity, does this drive up the values of the detached houses?

Apartments and detached houses mixed together, that depends if the area is desirable. One cannot say that a particular style of housing is more or less expensive given its style. There are examples where undesirable apartment blocks can drive down house values - this is particularly the case in the UK where living near council estates made up of highrises is a big factor for driving down house prices in the area.

One could assume that detached housing is more expensive, well, - this isn't true in Stockholm for example where per square metre apartments are far, far more expensive than houses and also built far more often than individual housing of any kind (detached, semi-detached or terrace/townhouse). The further you get from the city centre, the cheaper all types of housing are. I don't know of many, if any, detached housing in the city centre here that's for sure, so I can't really compare. In Auckland, the closer you are to the CBD, generally, the more expensive your house (with some exceptions). In the UK, many houses in the suburbs were highly desirable and more expensive than inner city housing (with exceptions again). These are generalisations of course and not all cities in the UK obey the stereotypes I outlined (particularly London).

[Piltup Man]

Originally Posted by Svartmetall

Detached houses in the city are impossible as then it no longer the city. The very nature of such housing is the antithesis of urban and one cannot have amenities to serve the population as efficiently due to the greater space requirements of such housing.

I disagree, unless by "city" you are strictly referring to the city centre.

In my city, Marseille (800,000+ inhabitants), during the 19th century the richer inhabitants built themselves nice villas south of the city, outside of the urban limits. However since then the city has caught up geographically with those areas and even overtaken them by many kilometres, but many of those villas still remain, with their gardens and walls. And some of them are only about 30 minutes walk from the town centre; so compared to many (most) areas of Marseille they are considered to be relatively central.

Of course in many cases they are no longer used for private living but are for businesses, consulates and other uses. Although there are a fair amount that are still residential detached villas well within the city of Marseille and far away from the suburbs. They are also very expensive because of these reasons.

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by Piltup Man

I disagree, unless by "city" you are strictly referring to the city centre.

In my city, Marseille (800,000+ inhabitants), during the 19th century the richer inhabitants built themselves nice villas south of the city, outside of the urban limits. However since then the city has caught up geographically with those areas and even overtaken them by many kilometres, but many of those villas still remain, with their gardens and walls. And some of them are only about 30 minutes walk from the town centre; so compared to many (most) areas of Marseille they are considered to be relatively central.

Of course in many cases they are no longer used for private living but are for businesses, consulates and other uses. Although there are a fair amount that are still residential detached villas well within the city of Marseille and far away from the suburbs. They are also very expensive because of these reasons.

Sorry, yes, I mean the city centre compared to the suburbs. That's a bad British-ism there.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by Svartmetall

Detached houses in the city are impossible as then it no longer the city. The very nature of such housing is the antithesis of urban and one cannot have amenities to serve the population as efficiently due to the greater space requirements of such housing.

PS: I DID swap detach house living for apartment living and I won't go back to houses. Ever.

In a big city centre you can't have many of them, but you will find them dotted around. Buckingham Palace is a large detached house in the middle of London, and you will find others. A small minority of homes there of course but some nonetheless.

[LtBk]

I live near a city that has a lot of single-family detached homes in "newer" portions of the city.